Tell the Senate: Expand the Child Tax Credit now and reject attacks on low-income families
Cynical Senators are playing politics with the Child Tax Credit―and with the lives of millions of families with young children.
Some members of the Senate are lining up to block a tax package that will benefit 16 million children in lower-income families via an expanded CTC, despite a broad bipartisan House vote. Why? For some, the answer is simple: pure politics.
Expanding the Child Tax Credit is popular and is proven to dramatically reduce child poverty levels. So why are some members of the Senate trying so hard to stop the Senate from moving forward on this bipartisan package, and kill the CTC with poison pill amendments? Maybe because they think they can get a bill with more corporate tax breaks and a weaker CTC in the next Congress. Or maybe they don’t want to hand President Biden a legislative victory on an issue he has consistently championed. Whatever the reason, they are denying low-income families with children a bigger refund check just as millions of families are filing their taxes. We need Congress to act by the end of April to make it easier for people to receive a higher CTC as soon as possible. That’s why we are holding Senators accountable to take up this bipartisan tax package now.
The expanded Child Tax Credit included in the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act would lift 400,000 children out of poverty in tax year 2023, rising to 500,000 above the poverty line in 2025. It would also add much needed income to about 16 millionchildren in families struggling to meet basic needs.
Click “START WRITING” to send a message to your Senators right now and urge them to reject the stalling tactics of politicians playing political games and pass the expanded Child Tax Credit for low-income families before the end of tax season. Children and families need help now!
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CHN’s COVID-19 Watch: Tracking Hardship September 10, 2021
The (mostly) back-to-school edition. Millions of kids are back in school – some for the first time in 18 months. Polling shows parents are happy about this – but also favor safety measures such as mask mandates. Although experts broadly agree students should be in school as opposed to learning virtually, there is much cause for concern. Kids now account for more than one in four COVID-19 cases nationwide. In just the past week, 1,400 schools had to close and go to virtual learning due to COVID-19 outbreaks. In Texas alone, 50,000 K-12 students have tested positive. And 13 employees of Miami-Dade County schools have died.
Meanwhile, Democrats and Republicans in Congress as well as the Biden Administration have seemingly abandoned more than 10 million Americans – that’s the number of jobless workers who lost some or all of their unemployment benefits this week. “The cessation of this jobless aid, first put in place by Congress nearly 18 months ago, could upend the lives of millions of Americans still struggling to find work at a time when the pandemic’s delta variant is wreaking fresh havoc across a number of states,” the Washington Postreports. “It could also lead to a sharp pullback in spending, particularly in certain areas of the country, impacting a wide range of restaurants and other businesses that rely on consumer dollars.”
As all this unfolds, corporate America has launched a last-minute lobbying blitz to convince lawmakers in Congress that they – along with the wealthiest Americans – shouldn’t have to pay their fair share of taxes. But we know that important investments such as health care, child care, education, improving opportunity for our nation’s workforce, fighting climate change, and promoting equity across lines of race, ethnicity and gender, must be paid for. That means everyone needs to pay their fair share.
Please click hereand tell Congress: make everyone pay their fair share so that we can invest in the things we need in order to build a robust country where everyone can prosper, and no one is left behind.
40 million/
650,000+
40 million COVID-19 cases have been confirmedin the U.S. since the pandemic began; more than 650,000 Americans have died. Experts say the actual number of COVID-19 cases is significantly higher than the number of confirmed cases. More than 4 million new cases were reported in the past four weeks alone. Tweet this.
1.8 million
Before the first expanded Child Tax Credit payment was distributed in mid-July, the number of people living with children reportingthat their household did not have enough to eat in the previous week was 10.7 million. Now, after two payments have gone out, that number is 8.9 million – a drop of 1.8 million. Tweet this.
+6%
The number of hate crimes in the U.S. rose in 2020 to the highest level in 12 years, mainly due to attacks on Black and Asian people, the FBI just announced. In 2020, the FBI counted 7,759 hate crimes, up 6 percent from 2019 and the most since 2008, when 7,783 hate crimes were reported. Even so, one civil rights leader said the FBI’s figures are “woefully underreported.” Tweet this.
21.7%/7.1%
Although robust government intervention prevented overall food insecurity from worsening in 2020, not everyone fared the same. Among Black households, 21.7 percent experienced food insecurity in 2020, compared to 7.1 percent of White households. This is a gap of 14.6 percentage points, up from 11.2 points in 2019, before the pandemic arrived. Food insecurity is defined as being unable to afford adequate nutritious food at some point in the previous year. Tweet this.
More than 10 million
The numberof Americans who lost some or all of their unemployment benefits this past week. It was the largest drop-off of its kind in U.S. history. Tweet this.
7 cents
New research reveals that in states that cut unemployment benefits early, every dollar lost in benefits was offset by only about 7 cents in increased earnings. This sharply refutes arguments by UI opponents that unemployment benefits somehow discourage many people from working. Experts warn that the massive cutoff will drain the U.S. economy of $8 billion in September and October alone.
$700 million
The Biden Administration announcedthis week it would provide $700 million in grants to meat-packing, farm, and grocery-store workers to help defray financial hardships these essential workers have faced. The grants will be distributed to state agencies, tribal entities, and nonprofit groups that support these workers, who were required to go into work even in the height of the pandemic. Eligible workers can receive up to $600.
72%
The percent of large health care plans that are no longer making COVID-19 treatment free for patients, according to a recent study from the Kaiser Family Foundation. The average COVID-19 hospitalization costs $40,000. Most insured patients won’t pay that entire bill, but for those who had to pay a share of the cost of their hospital stay, the average cost was $3,800.
600%
The increasein daily COVID-19 cases in South Dakota since a giant motorcycle rally in the town of Sturgis in August drew more than 250,000 participants.
245%
The spikein calls to poison control centers from people who are self-medicating with ivermectin, an anti-parasite drug usually used to treat cows and horses that some falsely claim works for COVID-19. The National Poison Data System, which collects data from the nation’s 55 poison control centers, said there was a 245 percent surge in reported exposure cases from July to August.
September 10, 2021 